Even when he tries to be serious and “moving”, he comes across as someone who’s trying too hard to be witty and cute. I can’t take him seriously. Not to mention the music. It often sounds as if he’s been working on his songs for a full ten minutes.
I tried so hard with Merritt when I was in my early twenties. I was with this girl who was a fan, and I had friends that liked him. I felt I had to like him as well. I tolerated the album from 1994, but that was it. I tore my hair every time someone, without being ironic, claimed that 69 Love Songs was a masterpiece.
69 Love Songs is a masterpiece. I'm not even sure how someone who doesn't like it can't even admit that it's quite a work. The creativity and songcraft on display is staggering.
Anyway, what is "witty and cute" about lyrics like:
"All the things you said you'd never say and you said anyway
The things we did and didn't do, the thing we did and didn't do
Come flooding back to me now"
or
I will stay if you let me stay
And I'll go if you let me go
But I won't go far away
Because you're my only home
And I will hide when you want hidden
And I'll roam if you say roam
But I just assume you didn't
Because you're my only home
When you cancel dinner plans
When you cross the street and you don't take my hand
When you make impossible demands
I wish I didn't understand
or
I've seen you laugh at nothing at all
I've seen you sadly weeping
The sweetest thing I ever saw
Was you asleep and dreaming
Well you may not be beautiful
But it's not for me to judge
I don't know if you're beautiful
Because I love you too much
I've seen you when your ship came in
And when your train was leaving
The sweetest thing I ever saw
Was you asleep and dreaming
or
or
Billie you're a miracle and God knows I need one
Sing me something terrible that even dawn may come
You and me, we don't believe in happy endings
Hey, Lady Day, can you save my life this time
Can you cry so beautifully you make my troubles rhyme
Hey, Lady Day, can you save my life again
My only love has gone away
Will you be my only friend
Billie you're a genius, enough to be a fool
a fool to gamble everything and never know the rules
Some of us can only live in songs of love and trouble
Some of us can only live in bubbles..
or
If I was the Grand Canyon
I'd echo everything you say
But I'm just me
I'm only me
And you used to love me that way
So you know how to love me that way.
Etc, etc. I could go on. Certainly Morrissey incorporates wit, metaphor and theatrics into the majority of his lyrics as well. Merritt's expertise is in incorporating a kind of walled off, NYC SoHo artsy vibe into painfully relatable and sad (and sometimes happy and romantic) lyrics. Not unlike Morrissey's british wit resting side by side with actual anguish and tragedy in his lyrics. The two of them are peas in a pod.
As for Merritt's music sounding like he does it in 10 minutes, I just have no idea what you're talking about. His compositional and orchestral arranging skills are clear, and his songs balance simplicity and complexity in intriguing ways. In fact Merritt rightfully criticized You Are The Quarry, lamenting that rock's "greatest lyricist" is saddled with uninspired arrangements, saying he wish they were more "thoughtful." He's correct.
Obviously you don't HAVE to like Merritt's music, but your specific criticisms of him don't make much sense to me. I even have my own problems with him. He's been terribly inconsistent for several albums now, and his songs have become too jokey. But they didn't used to be.